Dressing Up For Developers

Des Plaines Planning New Wardrobe For Downtown

April 09, 1986|By Jeffrey Taylor.

If Des Plaines city officials have their way, the central business district soon will undergo a facelift.

Downtown Des Plaines, a rough and undeveloped holdover from the days before the economic boom hit Chicago`s northwest suburbs, has become the top priority of a mayor installed in office in 1981 on a platform of economic revitalization.

``The downtown here is dying, and we want to halt that process,`` Mayor John Seitz said recently. ``We`re not shooting for a theme or a gimmick to make our downtown attractive. We`re just looking for straightforward, intelligent planning and development that produces a contemporary

environment.``

At present, downtown Des Plaines is a random jumble of new and old, with a few modern developments plopped down among a majority of drab, faded storefronts. The central business district clearly has not kept pace with developments of nearby shopping centers and residential buildings; much of it looks little different today than it did 20 years ago.

``Activity downtown is very slow,`` says Marilyn McDermid, executive director of the Des Plaines Chamber of Commerce and Industry. ``One of our biggest problems is visibility. The Des Plaines Mall, a terrific new downtown development, has a real problem with visibility because it`s hidden by rows of deteriorated buildings.``

But Seitz and his staff plan major changes for downtown Des Plaines, most of it scheduled to begin this spring.

John Klaus, executive director of the Des Plaines Economic Development Commission, says he and other city officials have a responsibility to make the downtown area more attractive, as a first step toward achieving revitalization of the downtown.

``If we in the public end start dressing up the downtown in various ways, then the private sector should start picking up its end from there,`` Klaus says. ``A great deal of traffic comes through the downtown. If we make it attractive, it`s an ideal place for commercial developers.``

Some 1,100 commuters mill around the downtown area long enough to get on or off a train at the depot every working day. About 22,000 automobiles per day drive through downtown Des Plaines on River Road, plus 19,000 more cars that use Miner Street.

The key, Klaus says, is enticing car and train passengers to stop and spend money. But because of the downtown`s present deterioration, most shoppers would rather go elsewhere.

When first elected in 1981, Seitz pledged to work for dramatic economic change both downtown and elsewhere in the suburb. Today, the downtown area looks little different than it did when Seitz took office. ``In government,`` he says, ``everything takes longer than you want it to.``

But this spring will see several concrete steps toward the rehabilitation of the central business district:

-- A two-block section of dilapidated buildings on Ellinwood Street between Lee and Pearson Streets is scheduled to be demolished in late April or May. Officials have no immediate plans for the site, but they hope eventually to lure either commercial or residential developers to build there.

The Ellinwood redevelopment is part of a Tax Increment Financing district. Des Plaines is investing taxpayers` money now in hopes that future development will increase the tax base, but that future development is still uncertain. The cleared land could lay vacant for awhile.

-- Construction is scheduled to begin in May on a new bridge at River Road and Miner Street, according to Bruce Shrake, city engineer and acting director of municipal development. The bridge renovation will cost $2.5 million, all provided by state and federal grants.

-- Work will begin shortly thereafter on a new ``streetscape`` on Miner Street between Lee and Pearson Streets, Shrake says.

-- Parking lots throughout the downtown area will be repaved and

``beautified,`` Shrake says, to allow merchants to attract customers through rear as well as front doors.

-- The old Des Plaines train station on Miner Street will be demolished and a new one built along Miner Street. The program will add brick paving, street furniture and foliage to the business area.

-- Seitz says the city will make grants and low-interest loans available to downtown merchants who want to modernize and improve their storefronts.

Some local merchants have reservations about the construction plans

--especially those whose businesses face Miner Street and are concerned that the work will disrupt their business and drive away regular customers. But for the most part they are pleased with the revitalization plans.